Last month GamePolitics tracked Xbox Live's inaugural use of political polling among its members. In that survey, XBL users overwhelmingly gave the nod to Barack Obama as their choice for president - and that was before anyone knew about those now famous in-game Obama ads.

In partnership with nonprofit Rock the Vote, XBL has just completed a new round of polling. This time users were asked to name which issues were most on their mind.

So what's the answer? In the words of Deomocratic campaign strategist James Carville, it's the economy, stupid. Here are the numbers:

35% Jobs and the Economy

19% Environment

18% Foreign Policy

14% Health Care

14% Education

At this point it's fair to say that XBL has jumped into the election season with both feet. In addition to user polling and a voter registration drive, the online service is offering election 2008 gamerpics and themes, as well as a music video from The Presidents of the United States of America's new album.

On Monday, GamePolitics spoke to project manager Ben Vaught about the injection of politics into the XBL user experience. Vaught hadn't seen the results of the new poll at that point:

The reason we do these polls is that Xbox Live is more and more becoming a bellwether of where youth voting trends are going… This [new] poll is really a chance for Xbox Live members to tell the presidential candidates... this is why were voting, this is why this election matters to us…

I thought [the Obama ads were] amazing. This is a community of over 14 million members. They’re active and engaged, they’re vocal. And it's not just about games and entertainment. They're also active and engaged and feel very stongly about the direction of their country… If Xbox Live was a state, it would be the seventh largest with 20 electoral votes.

[Rock the Vote] is very happy with how everthing is turning out. For Rock the Vote, they’re going to where younger voters are this election and this year they’re on Xbox Live. With Microdoft and Xbox, we know that the presidential election is important and we’re really trying to do our part to encourage turnout and for people to vote.

Comments

There’s a large billboard conveniently placed about 30 feet from the garage to my apartment. Over the course of a year, it’s been gracious enough to inform me of many, many horrible movies and the occasional tie-in promotion. Aside from a passing glance at the art design, I tend to ignore what’s being advertised. I suppose seeing things day in and day out desensitizes a person after a while.

Obama is doing his best in order to prevent continuous unemployment in America. Unemployed individuals are unable to earn money to meet financial obligations. Failure to pay mortgage payments or to pay rent may lead to homelessness through foreclosure or eviction. Unemployment increases susceptibility to malnutrition, illness, mental stress, and loss of self-esteem, leading to depression. According to a study published in Social Indicator Research, even those who tend to be optimistic find it difficult to look on the bright side of things when unemployed. Using interviews and data from German participants aged 16 to 94 – including individuals coping with the stresses of real life and not just a volunteering student population – the researchers determined that even optimists struggled with being unemployed. Unemployment is a scourge; the ranks of those afflicted with joblessness are growing, as well as those looking into mortgage loan modification. The national unemployment rate has increased dramatically. Many people are hoping for an end sooner rather than later to unemployment and some debt relief.

Everyone of us is worried about the economic situation. As time goes by, recession is hurting more people and businesses. Almost all of us are facing recession blues. Recession blues are pretty common – the economy is depressed, so everyone else is too.Well, take heart – all is not lost.For those that come into a difficult situation, help is available.If you don't want to deal with late fees or bank fees, you can get payday loans.It's a small loan that you pay back after a couple of weeks, usually your next payday.It won't cure the recession blues, but it can help you to repair credit or relieve debt. Read more at http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/04/16/recession-blues-hit-p...

The only thing to know for sure is you'll see predictions changes as the current and near past situation changes. As long as things remain negative the predictions on the future will remain negative. When things begin to improve...oh my goodness, look at all these predictions improving. Its sad that so many people are caught up in this crap or think that economics is this important.
Perhaps when pepole start to see economics for what it is, a crapshoot, and the people dabbling in it for what they are, just a bunch of posers trying to sell their agenda, we'll turn the corner.
( Economics Thesis and Economics Essay )

PRAISE OBAMA OUR LORD AND GOD but seeing Obama and his friends want to wipe Isreal off the map why is the ECA/ESA which have a whole Jewish Leadership and god forbid you dare question a member who is Jewish like the former ESA president they'll go nuts but they still worship their golden cafe, obama.

what an odd reaction coming from the readers of GP... i guess it eludes me how we can justify sitting here bashing xbl gamers just because of a stereotype (isnt that what happened to us, the pimple-faced teenagers hunched over a square controller in a dark basement staring blank-faced at a video game?)

I would actually care if the majority of people doing the 'voting' on XBL were American citizens and actually of age to vote. Not 15 year old kids who hate like war and stuff(totally oh mah gawd) and British people.

I was thinking it was the terrorist got to vote too... haha. Wait no, that Bill Ayrs guy, wait, John Bruce, wait no a group of children that were born by mothers who were over 40 years old and have severe autism because of it, thats it.

I'm worried about the economy too, but I've lost all respect for politicians. I'm not going to put my future into the hands of anybody who can't even tell the truth, let alone follow through with his/her claims.

Zerodash, be fair. The level of racism and homophobia in America is still appalling. I live in the South, I should know. But you know what? The consensus still matters, whether we give a damn about it or not.

Admittingly, we're better off than we were (socially) 50 years ago. Not great, but definatly better.

The Northeast isn't much better. Except the people here tend to cover it up by overcompensating...except perhaps the folk in the NJ Pinelands (screw them), who don't bother to pretend to be non-racist.

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PHX Corp: I launched my spotify account today, and I kinda went a little overboard with adding music03/31/2015 - 3:59pm

Sora-Chan: Con't. Games like AC are a pain to someone like me who likes to play games in order. So when a game gets too many releases too quickly, it puts me off. Only exceptions are games that have no interconnected underlying stories like the FF games.03/31/2015 - 2:53pm

Sora-Chan: Wikipedia has rarely let me down on matters like this. But yeah... AC needs a break.. like two.. or three... or eight years.03/31/2015 - 2:51pm

Conster: There's 9 already?! I think I played 1, 2, and the ones inbetween 2 and 3.03/31/2015 - 2:23pm

Sora-Chan: Con't There are now Nine... of just the main entries into the series. There are 13 more in the "other games" department.03/31/2015 - 2:15pm

Sora-Chan: I tried to get into AC. Was having a decent time with the first one, at which point they had already released three titles. Then a fourth came out... then a fifth... the wall kept growing before I could finish the first.03/31/2015 - 2:14pm

Daniel Lewis: I think ubisoft should give AC a break before it's milked to death,and i'm a big fan of the games03/31/2015 - 1:15pm

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am